The OC requirements vary from one place to another. Usually it's something like being weatherproof, having utilities connected and working toilets, plus whatever else the local board deems acceptable. Ask the local permits office.

My personal take is to NOT move in until at least 99% of the punch list is complete. Living on-site makes it just too darn easy to procrastinate on the punch list, and too darn inconvenient to live among work crews, finishes smells, and ongoing dust. Be on the scene? Absolutely, but a motel or even RV is a lot better than camping. And I definitely wouldn't want to live-in until the whole place was aired out after the finishes (paint, stain, polyurethane, whatever) were ah, finished. It's not just an old painter's tale: people really can get sick from inhaling the fumes. There is also the fact that some GC's figure their job is done once you are in the house -- and punch list items go to the bottom of their to-do list.

For what it's worth, my Uncle moved into his house before it was completed in 1978. He built a temporary kitchen in the basement and the entire first floor was open stud walls.

He still uses that basement kitchen. The drywall is up on the first floor but the trim only partly so. He's a widower and the nine kids have all moved out.

Do as much as you possibly can before you move in because you will never be motivated to complete it. The second most motivated time will be if you ever have to sell it and you decide to finally fix all the little things you've been meaning to get around to since you moved in.

Specifics on how much remains to be completed varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and inspector to inspector. Asking locally will get you a better answer. I was able to leave my porch ceiling undone. The inspector questioned the exposed romex, but when I told him it would be covered up when I finished the ceiling he was satisfied. I suspect a less flexible inspector could have forced the issue.

When we build we plan to move in about a month prior to closing. Our town states that all electrical must be done, a full bathroom must be finished, the kitchen sink must be in place & working plus the grading by the doors must be correct. I would contact your local town inspector for the list of must-haves before moving in early.

The occupancy permits will vary from city to city......but my personal advice is to not move in before it is finished it all possilbe. We did and there was so much dust, etc. that I would never do it again......but my DH's company was doing it and as the old saying goes, "the shoemaker's kids go barefooted"....seems like I was always last on the list so it took forever~~~~or so it seemed.

AS others have said, you need to have an occupancy permit before you move in. Check with your building inspector to find out what is required. You don't need the finish work done, and you can use temporary railings, etc. to satisfy basic safety requirements.

That's pretty funny about the basement kitchen.

Thanks for the info- I chuckled (at me, not you) when I saw some of the posts. I am as type A as one can be so the OTHER reason I want to be there is to manage the punch list to the best of my ability so that it doesn't drag on.

Builder knows we have a standing appointment for coffee every morning that this jobs runs past the deadline.

Good point re: off-gassing. We would like to have another child soonish so it's probably not a great idea to be inhaling the fumes.

We moved in before it's done (it's still not done) just a few days after the CO. Here they just require that they can final all the permits. Flooring and other 'trim' things and even landscaping can slide (though where we are living now they won't CO you without the minimal landscaping in place ither).

In our NY home, no CO would be issued without ALL the landscaping done. We had asked for a credit for flooring from the builder-he was putting in carpetting and we wanted our own guys to install a custom hardwood floor. The town would NOT issue a CO for the house without something finished on the subfloor, so the carpetting was installed and promptly taken up the day of closing before it had even been walked on!
Here in NC, the sod could not be put down during the brutal heat of summer. The inspector had to have written assurance that sod would be installed by October before a CO was issued (we closed August 30th). In the meantime, seed and straw were put down, even though sod was planned. Seemed very wasteful to me in both instances. We did use the carpet elsewhere when we finished some lower level bedrooms

No CO is issued in my area, and we moved in before the upstairs bath was done, and some other pretty major things.

It is certainly true that it gets harder to find motivation once you are in, and every job gets tougher because you are working around furniture, etc.

But we were way past our original planned date, and just couldn't wait anymore: the waiting was getting to be a big stressor, and I have no regrets.

We moved in about a year ago and before the house was finished. We had a lot of trim to finish and some of the wood walls to finish putting up. We had the major task of of the upstairs bathroom to do. And we had no kitchen. We've gotten a lto done but we stil don't have a finsihed kitchen b/c the guy we hired disappeared. We also have no upstairs bathroom because I've chosen not to start it yet. We're really happy we moved in and we pick away at projects all the time. It's not stressing us to work on them but it certainly would be stressful working on them and living elsewhere. When our old house sold we needed to be here. We DIYed everything but the rough plumbing, HVAC and the metal roof. Spending the evenings and weekends away from where we lived was not fun and we were so happy to end that.

We moved into our last house the day after the septic tank went in -- no inspections needed. We had no kitchen, no carpeting, and one working guest bathroom. I cooked in an electric skillet and washed dishes in a dishpan in the bathtub for a month or so. It wasn't ideal, but the lease was up on our rental (next door to the build) so we carried everything across the yard and moved in. In a way, I think the subs really tried to get things done quickly because they felt so sorry for us!

We're in a similar situation with this build. The apartment lease is up April 30 so we'll be out of here whatever happens. This time the septic has been done for some time! The countertops go in tomorrow, plumber is due on Monday, appliances are scheduled for Wednesday. The tile guys have been hung up on the master bath because the supplier ordered the wrong glass block, but other than that, all the tile except tub deck is finished. The hardwood floors go in today/tomorrow. Electrician will return for last stuff Monday . . . Trim carpenters and painters are tripping over one another.

We need to check with the inspectors to see exactly what must be finished . . . if landscaping is an issue, we're in trouble!! But this is a private subdivision which we own, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm getting VERY impatient!!

I would say that as long as you have the HVAC, regular electricity (not the temporary power pole), running water, 3/4 bath, you are ready to move in. You don't need a kitchen, but you need the toilet and shower! You don't need flooring.

I know a little something about this, as I know a lot of folks who flooded in Katrina, and this is the minimum they needed to live.

What you need and what is required are often 2 very different things. We had to have all electrical finished (all major appliances in place and hooked up, all smoke alarms working), all plumbing fixtures operational, the OK from the health department on septic install and even a contract with a contractor to do yearly inspections and upkeep, exterior and interior railings per code, etc. etc. Most of these things required an advanced level of completion because of the order things are done. But actually complete? We've lived here a year, and it won't be 'complete' for another one, at least, if you count interior window trim, and all the planned cabinetry. :-)

Mdev, since I've seen your vent about your GC, I know you have one. I wouldn't move in until it's 100% done with regards to the GC. If there are things you'll do outside of his/her contract (like landscaping and drapes), then those can be done after you move in. But I'd get everything that the GC is responsible for done before I moved in.

We were OBs, so we moved in with lots of small items left to do, big items were the quarter round and landscaping.

We moved in 3 months after modular was set on foundation, actually had scheduled movers (interstate) so inspector gave us CO day after our furniture was delivered. We had to have septic and well approved by Health Dept, all electrical (incl smoke detectors) done, one working bathroom (inspector warned us to get toilet in PR quickly, or seal the flange b/c we'd get smell once we started using other bath/sinks), kitchen sink and "sanitary" (tile, not plywood) floors in bath and kitchen. Most of this was done within the first week, we just spent the 3 months doing drywall patches, painting, light fixtures, exterior doors, finishing siding, front porch, garage, finished flooring (except for DR and master bath). We lived for about a week with no appliances b/c of Sears scheduling problem (appliances were ordered in March, we wanted them in August but it was Sept 11 b4 we got them).

We put that toilet in right away but still have no sink in PR. Got a DR floor (Brazilian Cherry) a year after we moved in. Now after 21 months (house was set in June 2007, we moved Labor Day to get in b4 school started) we are still working on finishing trim and doors (unstained pine), (delays due to major settling cracks, having to retape ceilings and repaint, lower doors that were set too high, etc.). The master bathroom is my small (3ft b/t vanity and tub x 6ft) woodfinishing shop for trim since my DR is now a DR LOL! Larger items like doors had to wait over the winter so that I can set up sawhorses in garage (I got the bathroom door poly'd b4 DR floor went in last Sept). I am having engineer look at plumbing plans next week b/c I don't smell anything in unfinished bathrooms (try to pour water down shower and tub drains but sinks are horizontal pipes just capped off, toilet flange in master is stuffed with rags and taped) but when heat pump is running or or rainy days I get smell in attic/upstairs and sometimes in basement - last spring and yesterday nice sunny days I could smell it in back yard but leach field is not wet so I believe septic is working fine and it's venting issue?

Anyway, it's hard to do trim staining/poly (yes lots of fumes) after you move in, and I would definitely get finished floors in the kitchen and baths and get ALL the plumbing working b4 you move in. BR, LR, DR flooring, paint and lighting can wait unless you have tons of (or big) furniture that it would be hard to move around - we had to play musical chairs (and tables and china cabinet) when we had ceilings redone in Feb 2008, even though we didn't have LR or FR furniture it was still a bit of a pain.

Still have no deck outside back slider that inspector made us remove lock/handle from. Doesn't look like it's going to happen this year. We had grass for a while last spring but this srping it looks like clover/weeds/crabgrass and moss have taken over, some areas need more fill/topsoil b/c they have sunk, but we won't do anything til we figure out where we need to dig...

bdpeck- LOL!

The more I thought about what everyone said yesterday, the more I agree with all the feedback. Thank you everybody.

We are going to stay at a hotel rather than move in early. DH is not all that pleased but I do not want my 13 month old (or any of us) breathing in the fumes as the floor, paint, etc release VOCs.

GC is having a bad week, which is turning into a bad month. They have more work than they know what to do with. Looking forward to hearing their cheery voices on the weekly conference call this morning. I'm going to ignore the attitude from here on out and do away with asking if they're available to talk when I call the owner (GC) or the foreman.

if you are taking a loan from the bank it is mandatory that all is 100% completed before closing on the loan, so whether you move in or not you must finish all work. So that could be your motivation to move in, save money and get all the work done. I'm going to like it because DH can stay up late at night and finish the last details and the kids can still see him and go to bed when needed. Good luck!

They won't give me the keys until I get a letter for occupancy from the county. I own the land out right and I am paying cash at each Draw. Still the company will not give me the keys.

During a build In the Western Mountains of Maine, we were allowed to camp in the basement on weekends during ski season, as we had a fully functioning bath. We have lived through other Reno’s..during summer, so temporary kitchens were largely outside. But the bedrooms were untouched, so a safe, clean haven...Drywall dust is the worst for my asthma, and there are all the other smelly things...I would not do it with a toddler, because there would be no safe floor space.....but maybe rent an RV?

@Renee it's not only your same rule for everyone...